Kitts recognized for sustained excellence in scholarship
This year's University Award for Sustained Excellence in Scholarship went to Chris Kitts in Mechanical Engineering.
Professor Chris Kitts specializes in the design, control, and teleoperation of highly advanced robotic systems for scientific discovery, technology validation, and engineering education. Through his work in this area, Professor Kitts has made not only a profound impact on the interdisciplinary field of robotics, but more broadly he has impacted automation research within the overall field of engineering.
As Director of the Robotics Systems Laboratory, Dr. Kitts’ work has been supported by the Office of Naval Research, NASA, The Koret Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, to name just a few. Highlights of his research program include the use of robotic-based scientific discoveries to examine tsunami waves in Lake Tahoe, and controlling a series of NASA spacecraft for advanced space biological research.